"I'm not crazy. As for whether you're crazy, I don't know, and I have no interest in finding out. Anyway, I won't cure you," Roya said calmly, looking at Hina.
Pfft!
This time, it was Hina's turn to almost spit blood in anger at that remark.
She nearly couldn't resist shooting Roya, but after gritting her teeth, she remembered that Roya was Garp's nephew and held back. Still, the look she gave him carried a trace of murderous intent.
Roya shrugged, entirely unaffected by Hina's murderous glare. Earlier, it had almost unsettled him when Hina said, "If you're sick, you can take a leave."
Since arriving in this world, this was the first time he had felt such irritation.
Seeing Roya completely ignore her deadly glare, Hina felt both powerless and mentally exhausted.
Looking around, Hina hesitated for a moment, but as time slowly passed, she began to lose her composure.
Because… up until now, not a single ferocious beast had appeared!
The longer it stayed quiet, the more a sense of unease and danger settled in. Hina even sensed that countless ferocious beasts might be hiding in the jungle, ready to strike at any moment.
Perhaps there were so many beasts that they were starting to confront each other, unwilling to leave, and fearful of attacking outright due to the presence of others.
"Hey! Are you really not leaving? If you don't, I'll have to go without you."
Hina took a deep breath and finally looked at Roya seriously. Her own mindset couldn't compare to Roya, who had died once and then crossed over to this world. She couldn't remain in such an increasingly dangerous environment any longer.
Hearing her, Roya turned his head and glanced at her lightly, then adopted a "do as you please" attitude.
Hina gritted her teeth and turned to leave.
She wasn't malicious by nature; she didn't intend to let Roya be killed by countless beasts. She just planned to get to an area with surveillance and call for a rescue team.
It was absurd that Roya had done something so reckless and yet no examiner had come to stop him. Perhaps the fire that had just burned the brown-backed giant ape had destroyed the surveillance in this area.
With that thought, Hina decisively prepared to leave the area quickly.
But.
Before she could step into the bushes, a stench of blood suddenly wafted from the undergrowth, and an intense sense of imminent death surged through her.
Instinctively, Hina performed an extreme reflex: she tilted her head back, flipped through the air, and leapt backward.
Crack!
At the exact moment Hina flipped, a massive blood-red maw appeared from the bushes, snapping viciously.
The jaws lunged forward sharply but missed her by a hair, snapping shut just inches from her clothing.
"Damn it! Is it already too late?!"
Hina's face darkened as she saw a giant blue wolf, three to four times the size of an ordinary wolf, emerge from the undergrowth.
A level 2 ferocious beast—a giant blue wolf!
Her gun was already in hand, but she hesitated to shoot, unsure whether this was the only beast or if countless others were lurking nearby.
One level 2 giant blue wolf didn't frighten her, but she worried that firing would trigger chaos in the area.
After missing its bite, the wolf didn't attack immediately. Its gaze—cold and unsettling—locked onto Hina as it slowly advanced.
This wolf clearly had some intelligence. That missed bite had told it that the creature before it wasn't so easily killed. Instead of attacking recklessly, it intended to pressure Hina and strike lethally if she revealed an opening.
As the giant wolf approached, the invisible weight of danger pressed down. Sweat began to bead on Hina's forehead. In any other setting, she would have countless ways to kill this wolf and wouldn't feel intimidated by its aura.
Hina's skills ranked her at the top of the regular camp; she was fully qualified for the elite camp.
But under the current circumstances, she dared not act rashly. Part of her focus was on the giant blue wolf, but most of her attention was on the black shadows in the surrounding jungle.
By now, Hina could see numerous black silhouettes in the jungle.
Each shadow could be a ferocious beast!
The scent of roasting meat had prevented the beasts from fighting each other. Now, all of them were silently advancing, surrounding the area.
"This is bad… that idiot Roya is going to get us killed!"
Hina felt her heart turn icy. Her small hands seemed to be losing warmth.
Meanwhile, Roya continued to observe quietly.
Not because he wanted to watch Hina embarrass herself, but because he was calmly assessing the shadows in the jungle, calculating how to fight. Soon, he reached a conclusion:
There was no need to consider how to fight at all.
In a forest with such favorable terrain, combined with his ability to wield fire, there was no difference for Roya whether he faced a single beast or an entire group.
If that was the case, what was there to worry about?
At that moment, Roya, leaning against a tree with Engetsu in his arms, straightened up. A chilling curve of excitement curled at the corner of his mouth, a trace of fervor flashing in his eyes.
Roya's outward demeanor was calculating, but deep down, he was still hot-blooded. In his previous life, it was his inner fervor that led to his death. Even after crossing into this world, that fervor hadn't disappeared.
This world was inherently hot-blooded; why let that heat fade?
Surrounded by countless ferocious beasts during this live combat assessment, the spark of Roya's bloodlust was quietly ignited.
Standing upright, he displayed a chilling smile. One hand gripped the sheath of Engetsu, the other the hilt, drawing the sword slowly across his chest.
Shhh!
In the next instant, Engetsu was drawn!
Hina, who had been keeping a wary eye on the giant blue wolf, glanced over at Roya at the sound of the sword being drawn.
Almost at the same moment Hina looked away in distraction, the giant blue wolf's eyes flashed with a murderous gleam. Seizing the opportunity, it lunged toward Hina's throat.
"Not good!"
Hina reacted immediately, preparing to dodge at full force. But a glimmer of light in her peripheral vision froze on Roya.
Shhh!
In that instant, with Hina staring in shock, Roya erupted with speed even faster than hers, like a streak of lightning, flashing from one side to the other.